


Christmas lights and Christmas nights

by phil2297



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Romance, Snow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:33:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24395086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phil2297/pseuds/phil2297
Summary: This is the story, all about how, Harry's life got flipped and turned upside down. It's a story of love and friendship, and most of all, it's a story of chrismas. How one fateful accident could land Harry the hottest babe walking the halls of Hogwarts (at least if you ask Ron). Set during fourth year and the tri-wizard tournament. Canon-adjacant. This was also posted on fanfiction.net under the same name.
Relationships: Fleur Delacour/Harry Potter
Comments: 3
Kudos: 18





	Christmas lights and Christmas nights

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first published story. It will be updated sporadically, but hopefully once a month, maybe more often, as I'm quite busy most of the time. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

Once upon a Christmas Eve somewhere in the heart of Scotland, sat what most people would call ruins of something long lost. A structure lost to time, to the weather and erosion. But for a select few, there sat a castle. It was a very grand castle, with dozens of turrets and towers. It had its own lake and even a some-sort of sports arena with three elevated hoops on each end! In fact, it wasn’t just  _ a _ castle, but in fact, a magical castle! Furthermore it wasn’t just any old magical castle. No not at all. For this castle, was actually a school! A school for the special kind of people that could see the ruins for what they truly were. For those people, those people were wizards and witches. So it was upon the Christmas Eve of 1994, we see our story unfold…

You see, in this magical castle, there was a boy, and a girl. Well, really, there were plenty of boys and girls, ranging in all sorts of ages. But upon this special day we find two very special people. A very special boy, and a very special girl. They were so special, that even in the community of special people, they were still some of the most special of them all!

Now, you might wonder who they are. And don’t worry we’ll get to that have patience. But to be frank, our story doesn’t  _ actually _ start on this magical Christmas Eve. Nor does it start at the castle either. It starts on all hallows eve of 1981. It was on this Hallowe’en night, an event that shook the magical world to their core, took place. It was on this night the very special boy was marked as such. It was on this night, something incredible, yet horrible happened. It was this night, that you’ll find witches and wizards all over rejoicing about.

You see, somewhere in the quaint village of Godric’s Hollow somewhere in England, lived two quite beloved adults and their child. They were James and Lily Potter. Now you may begin to think  _ ‘what does this even have to do with the story?’ _ To that, I say you shall have patience, for their child is our story’s very special boy, and his name: Harry Potter

So it was on that Hallowe’en night that a dark and evil wizard, known to very few as Tom Marvolo Riddle Jr. But known to many, as  _ Lord Voldemort _ (or so he calls himself), chose to attack the Potters. It was long speculated by plenty of people as to why this dark wizard chose to attack the Potters. Some say it was simply because they didn’t support his cause and had tried to thwart him previously (or at least aided in the attempts upon his life). And others thought he might have targeted them for ‘betraying’ their kind, with James not marrying ‘ _ pure _ ’. A ludicrous and ridiculous prejudice if you ask me. Marrying  _ ‘pure’ _ , hah! I haven’t heard rubbish that bad since the last Chudley Cannons match. But alas, it was, and is, a (albeit bigoted) stance many families in the wizarding world shares. But in truth, it was only a select few knew the real reason.

There was in fact, a  _ prophecy _ , that was made. This prophecy was originally uddered to one Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, but a spy for the dark wizard Voldemort had overheard it. Well some of it at least. And I would even put my two knuts on a bet, saying that Albus Dumbledore severely regrets having a job interview in a pub of all places. But, it was then the spy returned to the dark wizard, and the dark wizard... Well, the dark wizard chose to believe this prophecy. The prophecy as it were, spoke of someone who could vanquish  _ Lord Voldemort _ . The evil wizard simply couldn’t have this! You know, besides having some idiotic greed for ultimate power and being and stuff, he feared naught but one thing more than anything in the world. Death itself.

Now the thing with him attacking the Potters isn’t to do with the reasons behind it. No, it has to do what resulted after it. Or would this be classed as during it? In any case, when the foul wizard attacked the Potters he failed to accomplish his one goal. And his goal? It was to kill the little Harry Potter.

You see, when  _ Voldemort _ cast ‘The Killing Curse’, a most horrendous curse that kills you instantly without failure, on young Harry Potter, something quite extraordinary happened. First off, it didn’t quite work. In fact, it didn’t work at all (or at least not as intended). Because the boy survived! Secondly, after that night, it was thought that the horrid wizard Voldemort had died. Now this should be quite impossible you say. And, well, under any normal circumstances, it most assuredly would be. But what had happened, was that the sacrifice made by Harry’s mother, Lily Potter (née Evans), somehow had the curse rebound on Lord Voldemort. It destroyed Voldemorts body. It was for that reason many thought him dead, and they would one day be proven wrong. But in any case, let’s get on with the story.

It was from that day onwards, that Harry Potter forever became special in the wizarding world. Whether he wanted it or not, he was now famous beyond any rationale. For young Harry Potter became the only known person to ever survive the dreadful killing curse. Henceforth, everyone in the wizarding world knew him not just as Harry Potter. But also as  _ The-Boy-Who-Lived. _ Every child that would grew up after this fateful Hallowe’en night would know of his name. Would know of what happened. How Harry Potter survived the killing curse, and how Voldemort was vanquished (or so they thought). And the adults would praise the young child for what he did. Not in person mind you, because Harry didn’t actually grow up in the wizarding world. No, he had in fact been placed on the doorstep of his closest living blood relations. His magic-less aunt and uncle.

As Harry grew up, he had a miserable childhood. He lived with his Aunt Petunia Dursley née Evans, his Uncle, Vernon Dursley, and his Cousin, Dudley Dursley. Both Vernon and Dudley Dursley were, for all intents and purposes, bullies (not to mention a pair of landwhales). Vernon and Petunia were obsessed with  _ ‘normality’  _ and with  _ ‘being normal’ _ . And there couldn’t be something further from normal for someone who did not possess magical skill, than a child of a wizard and witch. They didn’t like Harry, and Harry didn’t even know why. They treated him horribly, bullied him, and let his cousin and his cousins friends stomp all over him (their favourite game to play being ‘Harry Hunting’). For goodness sake, he spent nine years of his life the cupboard under the stairs! (As that was his room at the Dursleys).

But it was then, after nine years under the stairs, as Harry approached eleven years of age, that he discovered something wonderful. Because Harry was in fact, a wizard. He even got to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, one of the most prestigious magical schools. These news both irritated his relatives, and yet excited young Harry. After nine years of hell, he learned that he was special. That he was worth something other than a slave to do the chores around the house. But he didn’t yet know just  _ how _ special he was. Or rather, he didn’t fully realise it. While he had been to the shopping area known as Diagon Alley, being brought there by the Hogwarts gamekeeper Hagrid, he had, for the most part, avoided too many enthusiastic witches and wizards. Now Harry had noticed all the looks and whispers, and there was even *Insert Name Here* at The Leaky Cauldron, but for an eleven year old Harry, it just seemed more strange than anything. He couldn’t quite comprehend just  _ what _ he meant to the magical populace. Now as for Hogwarts. this was the magical castle from earlier in which our story takes place. 

Now, throughout Harry’s first three years of magical schooling he had experienced much too dangerous adventures for a child. He fought trolls in girls bathrooms and saved alchemical stones with abilities beyond comprehension. He had escaped giant spiders and defeated a humongous serpent with a sword and a hat of all things. He had learned how to protect himself against soul-sucking demons, met and fled from werewolves and found his long lost godfather. He had even fought, and won might I add, against his parents killer, twice. This all had Harry grow up too fast, or, at least too fast had he been any normal boy.

But it was on the Christmas Eve in Harry’s fourth year at Hogwarts, something most extraordinary happened. Even more extraordinary than anything he had faced in the past, except for maybe surviving the unsurvivable killing curse. And it all involves the special girl.

You see, it was decided that a long abandoned tournament should be reinstated: The Triwizard Tournament as it was called. The British Ministry of Magic thought it would be a good idea, and for whatever reason the headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore (the very same from earlier), had agreed to it. In fact he had even agreed that Hogwarts should play host to this tournament. And it was because of this tournament, that our special girl found herself at Hogwarts. 

As it were, The Triwizard Tournament involves three of the most prestigious magical schools in Europe. Of course there was Hogwarts, the host-school for this particular tournament. Then there’s the visiting schools. Durmstrang Institute, who came from somewhere cold (presumably in the north), and Beauxbatons Academy of Magic from France. Each school would then present a champion to represent them in three dangerous challenges. All champions would fight to win the prestigious Tri-wizard Cup. Now the choosing of the champions themselves was done by a magical artifact known as The Goblet of Fire. But of course opposed to tradition (and the rules might I add), four champions were chosen. For Harry Potter was forced into the tournament against his will, and had to compete. It was quite an unfortunate bit of luck for Harry. But then again, had he not been chosen as the fourth champion our story might not even have happened.

Now to get back on track again. Our very special girl was none other than the champion for Beauxbatons Academy of Magic: Fleur Delacour. 

What made Miss Delacour so special, besides being a competent enough witch to be chosen as champion by an ancient impartial magical flaming goblet (that yet still can be fooled as long as you do it right enough). Was that she were also part magical creature, for a lack of a better world. In fact it’s still a debate to this day, whether what Miss Delacour is should be classified as a magical creature, or if it is, perhaps, instead a sentient being magical in nature, more akin to witches and wizards. I digress. The point is, that her grandmother was a none other, than a  _ Veela _ .

Veela, as it were, are a magical species known for their unnatural and incredible beauty. They are practically physical perfection. Veela, whom always are female (as far as the scholars on the subject are aware), are quite known for their ability to ensnare men, or women for that matter. Well actually it’s more correct, and accurate, to say that it is those who have a preference for the female sex that would feel quite interested in a Veela. Their ability to ensnare anyone with those proclivities are so effective, that some scholars even suggest they might have some kind of magical ‘pull’ or ‘allure’, maybe even some special pheromones or some such. While that could be true, and there’s even precedent set for such, it is still not very well understood. At least in the scholarly circles from outside the Veela communities.

Now it is to be said that Veela are  _ very magical _ beings. To such a degree that a single hair from a full-blooded veela, such as Fleur’s grandmother, is powerful enough to be used as a wand core. Now this  _ does _ help the arguments for why Veela should be classified as magical creatures, such as dragons or unicorns (two species which also have something that can be harvested from their body to create such a wand core), although they aren’t sentient. Or, rather, if they are, they aren’t to the degree that Veela are. For even though Veela  _ are _ magical beings, and that it’s also true that they do have some magical properties that normal (magical) humans don’t. They are, for all intents and purposes, just incredibly beautiful women.

But it wasn’t just because of this apparent Veela magic that made Fleur special though. Fleur has always worked hard to prove herself. Both to herself but also her parents. Ever since she was a little girl she had adored her parents. Some would argue that they didn’t deserve that adoration. Her father was a man of many words, most of them meaningless. He was nothing more than a boring beaurocrat at the French Ministry of Magic. Not even that high in the hierarchy either. Her mother on the other hand, well, she was an alright mother I suppose. She wasn’t cruel or harsh or even unloving. But to be frank, she was kind of… Boring. Fleur’s mother was a proud woman. She was proud of her grades when she attended school. She was proud of her work (even though running an apothecary isn’t the most prestigious or special job). But most of all, she was proud of her daughter. Not the problem with Fleur’s mother, was that, she actually very rarely showed just how proud of her daughter she was. Instead she chose to push her daughter to be better. To be the best. While for many people this wouldn’t be such a big problem. For Fleur, it was something she could most definitely have lived without. 

Fleur didn’t have it easy growing up. It wasn’t always that great being the prettiest girl in the room. Especially with how vicious jealous girls can be towards one another. Furthermore the older she got, the harder she found it being respected as the intelligent and hard working girl that she were. Because often times, people just assumed she could get on with her life on purely her attractiveness alone. It was when she was about fifteen years of age that she decided that she had enough. So she began acting like everyone thought she was. She began using her attractiveness to her advantage. But at the same time she still longed to be recognized. And thus, she developed an arrogant and haugthy attitude. Since people kept putting her on a pedestal, she  _ must _ belong there after all. Or at least that’s what the teenage girl began to think. Although when she arrived at Hogwarts, was chosen as champion, and then narrowly stole that damned golden egg from a  _ dragon _ , that helped give her somewhat of a reality check. No doubt it also helped how the rest of her classmates that had come along, began to hate her for being chosen over them. Knocking her off her pedestal so to speak. And it was at these times she began to reflect on her life. While her looks and somewhat haughty personality had helped her along in life great. She could see that, acting like she had, was no longer viable. She also realised it had left her quite lonely in life. Sure she had  _ friends _ , or, rather, she thought she had. But they had all been pretty upset and irritated at her after she was chosen champion. It was around the start of december during the tournament she realised she never actually had any friends. Or well, at least not any true friends, except maybe for her sister Gabrielle. It was then she decided she would work as hard as she could. To overcome the prejudice surrounding her. To win the tournament.

  
It was this drive, this hunger for acknowledgement of who she truly were- And his damned puzzle of a golden egg that left her mind elsewhere at times. In fact people had begun avoiding her. This was because she was known to have quite the temper. And while nobody really respected Fleur, they weren’t about to turn her anger on them. So instead they hated her from afar. This left Fleur even lonelier than ever. No longer did she feel she had that power over others that came with being Veela. This coupled with how distracted she was with the tournament and her focus on showing  _ them _ she truly was the best as her mother always thought she should be, left her kind of… forgetting her Veela nature. It was this inherent problem that brought about our story, the one that unfolded on Christmas Eve in 1994, in a magical castle somewhere in Scotland.


End file.
